Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids

A few months ago, a got a really neat email from Kathleen Skinner at the Kokopelli Choir Association:

Inspired by your wonderful podcast, my young adult choir used their own kidlit as a group icebreaker during our annual retreat last November. The prize I offered for the “best” childhood literature presented was that I would set the masterpieces to music. The result was performed at our February 21 concert, “Stories”, and I called the two-movement work “Juvenilia”.

How cool is that? Kathleen included a link to a YouTube video of the performance:

In case you’re wondering, here are the lyrics:

“Love” by Jennifer (age eight)

Love, love, love we all love love.
It is nice, kind and firendly
Love, love, love is such a dove,
we all love love, we all love
love. You and me love love.
Yes I love you. When I’m
blue I need too love you.

“Unicorns Are Magic” by Erin (age eight)

Once upon a time there lived two unicorns, a mother and a baby. The mother called her baby Shadowfacts. She was georgeous.
One day the baby asked “Are we magic?” Her mother said “Yes, of course, we’re magic.”
The next day the baby asked “Are we magic?” Her mother said “Yes we are magic.”
The next day the baby asked “Are we magic?” The mother yelled:
“Of course we’re magic. If you ask me one more time I’ll scream! You see, I’m getting mad.”
So the baby never asked “Are we magic?” again.